OUR PROGRAMS

Coronavirus Resources

Thanks for checking out our first post our Coronavirus Resources page! We hope to quickly outline some of our main programs and provide resources for you during this unprecedented time. As this page is being published, the world is being hit hard by the far-reaching effects of COVID-19. We hope that you and your family are in good health and hope our global community and economy can recover quickly and strongly.

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START@SHEA UPDATE

All of us on the Start@Shea E-Board have the same mission, "We enable students to create their own opportunities through the curation of the entrepreneur’s mindset; initiative, adaptability, resilience, and self-awareness." Throughout the school year, we put on many different in-person events to help fuel our mission and we are now adjusting with the times. Here are the events we have planned for the rest of the year and more information about how you can attend them:

Strakosch Venture Competition 🏅

Our university-wide business plan competition occurs in the spring and supports BC startups which have achieved product-market fit and are looking for funding to take their idea to the next level. Cash prizes add up to around $30,000 in total for most years. Many participants of this program have gone on to achieve success — read more about Strakosch Venture Competition winners and the current statuses of their companies on our website.

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This year, the venture competition will take place virtually. More info on the event will be posted here soon. For the most up-to-date news, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media (@startatshea). Also, join our Venture Competition Facebook event ---> HERE

Zoom with an Entrepreneur 🖥

Every week throughout the school year, Start@Shea hosts entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and industry leaders for lunch and discussion with students. These events are typically referred to as "Lunch with an Entrepreneur" and they attract hundreds of students each year. With Boston College closing it's campus, we can no longer host these lunch sessions in Carney 452. As any great organization does, we have pivoted.

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Lunch with an Entrepreneur will now be "Zoom with an Entrepreneur" for the time being. Zoom with an Entrepreneur sessions will occur on a regular basis and to join you simply have to click on our Zoom link. Our Zoom links for these sessions will be shared on our newsletter and social media accounts.

Start@Shea Accelerator ⏩

This winter, we began our annual 9-week accelerator for BC startups to help them develop their business ideas. To help the startups progress, we provide them with weekly workshops featuring accomplished startup founders who teach teams a wide variety of topics from need-finding to design thinking to fundraising. A $1,500 check is given to each team to help them overcome their first financial barriers, and accelerator teams are also matched weekly with Start@Shea’s wide network of mentors.

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When Boston College decided to close down campus in mid-March due to COVID-19, we quickly transitioned our accelerator program to online. Teams have been working remotely and continue to get all together to learn via Zoom calls.

INTERNSHIP RESOURCES

As many of you are well aware, internship programs across the country have been greatly affected by the Coronavirus Pandemic. Internships are top companies have been canceled, including those at Yelp, Glassdoor, StubHub, and Funding Circle. If you are someone who is looking for employment this summer, here are some resources:

YC COMPANIES HIRING INTERNS

Y Combinator, also know as "YC", is one of the most notorious seed accelerator programs in the world. The program has helped launch over 2,000 companies including Stripe, Airbnb, Cruise Automation, DoorDash, Coinbase, Instacart, and Dropbox. YC startups have seen the impact of COVID-19 on internship programs and they are hoping to help out by providing employment options. You can learn more about the YC companies hiring and how to apply to them HERE.

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COVINTERN

While remote internships have existed for some time, they're now more popular and needed than ever, when multiple states are under "Stay-at-Home" orders and millions of students are home from college. COVINTERN connects employers with positions and programs to fill with students from top universities with avaliable time and a desire to learn.

Zintern Projects

Zintern Projects is dedicated to giving students access to internships and projects via Zoom. The project is hosted on Google Spreadsheet which is constantly being updated. If you are looking to boost your resume and grow your network, check out Zintern Projects.

Minternship

Min Minternship consists of “mini internships” - week long projects designed to reflect the core responsibilities and nature of a given career, with the feedback of a professional currently in that role.

Minternship projects can be completed from the convenience of your laptop, and are self paced to fit into your hectic schedule.

JOB RESOURCES

The job market, like the internship market, is not faring well due do COVID-19. Some companies have froze hiring and laid off employees while other companies are continuing to hire. If you are someone looking for employment following graduation, here are some resources:

WFH but Hiring

WFH but Hiring is ​a website For tech talent & employers who are WFH to find each other during COVID-19. Laid off or actively searching candidate? List yourself. Actively hiring tech co? Browse candidates + reach out. This is a 100% free resource. US & tech industry only (for now).

Hiring Status

During this unprecedented time, there are many companies struggling with hiring. Some companies are continuing to hire while other companies have been stopping (freezing) hiring. There are also many companies which have been laying off employees during this time.

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One great resource to find out more about companies hiring statuses can be found on the site Candor. The page on Candor is 100% user-generated. Check it out at https://candor.co/hiring-freezes/

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Another resource for finding out about company hiring statuses is Layoffs.fyi. You can view their Coronavirus Tracker at https://layoffs.fyi/tracker/

MentorMatch

MentorMatch was created by a Stanford student to help fellow students deal with the impacts of COVID-19. MentorMatch consists of a list of amazing tech professionals working at companies like Google, Robinhood, Facebook, and more who are also feeling helpless. The professionals have volunteered to mentor students and help them stay on track after graduation. To anyone who wants to talk through how COVID-19 affects their career (or get resume/interview/general advice), please take advantage of this amazing resource.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Boston Area Housing And Storage

Free Online Courses

The 8 Ivy League schools are among the most prestigious colleges in the world. They include Brown, Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, and Columbia universities, and the University of Pennsylvania. All eight schools place in the top fifteen of the U.S. News and World Report national university rankings.

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These Ivy League schools are also highly selective and extremely hard to get into. But the good news is that all these universities now offer free online courses across multiple online course platforms. So far, they’ve created over 500 courses, of which around 450 are still active.